MA Crews Make Ice Rescue Hours after Training

A teen who fell through the ice while skating on a pond in Westborough was saved by firefighters who had gone through cold-water rescue training hours earlier.

Jan. 15, 2019

Massachusetts fire crews saved a teen who had fallen through the ice while skating on a pond Monday afternoon only hours after those firefighters had finished training for cold-water rescues.

The 19-year-old Upton man had been skating with a friend on Mill Pond in Westborough at around 3 p.m. when the ice gave way, and he plunged into the water about 2,000 feet from the shore, WCVB-TV reports. Westborough crews arrived about two minutes after receiving 9-1-1 calls, and the firefighters were able to pull the teen to land.

The teen was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia. Hours before the incident, firefighters had been performing training exercises that involved similar cold-water rescues.

"We've got days where the outcome isn't very good, so this was a great outcome," Carl Roche, one of the firefighters involved in the rescue, told WCVB.